MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUBJECT: STATEMENT FROM CADET LEADERSHIP ON THE MEANING AND FUTURE OF THE
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE

We write neither in anger nor in defiance, but in duty. We represent the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets as leaders entrusted with responsibility for the Corps’ discipline, morale, and welfare. We live daily under the system now under review. Because of this, it is our duty and Honor to discuss what VМІ is, how it operates, and who it serves.

Public discussion of VMI has grown increasingly abstract. Reports and testimony now speak about the Institute, while those voices being cultivated within it remain largely unheard. This letter exists as the voice of those being forged by the system under review. What follows is not an institutional defense, but a moral account: testimony from cadet leaders who have embraced the system.

All who pass through VMI endure the same system of discipline, instruction, and hardship. That shared experience creates bonds, but it also creates obligations. Chief among these is the obligation to speak truthfully; testimony about institutional culture should reflect both context and criticism.

When failures are cited, has progress also been documented? When problems are named, are solutions being pursued also mentioned? Partial truths, however factually correct, create fundamental misimpressions about our institution.

We do not deny imperfection; we deny invisibility. Since 2020, VMI’s reforms have been real and lived. Where our experience ends, we rely on the testimony of those who have come before us. Improvement is ongoing, not achieved by dismantlement.

The cadet leaders whose voices follow did not arrive at VMI by a single path, nor do they share a single background. They include daughters and sons of immigrants and of veterans. Cadets from working class families and from professional households, combat veterans using the GI Bill as their primary means of access to higher education, former Division I athletes, scholars, and future officers. What unites us is not origin but embracing a common standard set by the Virginia Military Institute.

THE REGIMENTAL SYSTEM

Cadet Devin Auzenne, Regimental Commander (Class of 2026)

I am the Regimental Commander of the Corps. I speak as an African American cadet and as the leader enforcing military standards, training, and discipline. I was raised in Opelousas, Louisiana, in a Creole family shaped by work, faith, and responsibility. I grew up raising cattle and playing competitive soccer. VMI is meaningful to me because it has transformed me from a high school graduate to a competent and confident leader. I have developed skills in moral and ethical leadership, as well as complex problem-solving.

Through VMI, I have been entrusted, at twenty-two years old, with the leadership of 1,420 cadets, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That trust was not granted by identity but earned through performance and accountability.

More importantly, it placed me within a community that has supported me without condition. That community transcends race, creed, and belief because it is bound by shared obligation. For me, VMI is a community. A family that transcends race, culture, orientation, creed, and political beliefs. This family has encouraged me, empowered me, valued me, and spared no measure when looking after my growth and welfare. I am certain that the family I have come to know at VMI will be there to support me through my entire life journey.

Cadet Michael Ferrara, Regimental S3 Captain (Class of 2026)

As Regimental S3, I oversee Corps-wide operations requiring constant coordination among cadets of differing backgrounds and experiences. In this environment, trust is earned through reliability and service. Because no single organization at VMI operates alone, this position demands shared responsibility, transparency, and constant collaboration among cadets of diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Through this role, I have observed firsthand the way cadets evaluate one another. The qualities that matter are performance, responsibility, reliability, and service to the Corps.

This merit-based dynamic is not incidental. It is foundational to the lnstitute’s culture and to the development of future leaders. Effective communication and mutual respect are essential because the Corps relies on teamwork, not ego or favoritism. A cadet’s standing is earned through actions. Those who demonstrate these qualities earn trust, and those who fail to do so are held accountable, regardless of who they are or where they come from.

Cadet Anastasia Herrell, Third Battalion Commander (Class of 2026)

I am a proud senior at VMI and hope to share my experiences as a 21-year-old female cadet and leader shaped by the lnstitute’s beautifully demanding and transformative environment. As Third Battalion Commander, I am responsible for the leadership, training, safety, and discipline of approximately 470 cadets across three companies.

I was raised in a middle-class household in Miami, Florida. My mother, a Greek American, modeled resilience, independence, and compassion. My father, born in Fairfax, Virginia, instilled in me the value of teamwork and shared adversity. My connection to the Institute began years before my matriculation through stories of my father’s time as a cadet.

What has mattered most to me at VMI is the sense of belonging and the shared commitment among cadets. The individuals I have served alongside are family, united not by similarity but by our dedication to one another and the lnstitute’s mission.

Cadet Carla Feaster, Color Sergeant (Class of 2027)

What began as a commitment has grown into a sense of pride, love, and deep passion. VMI is a place where young men and women come to become better versions of themselves; leaders are developed through morale, unity, and shared responsibility. My time at VMI has been a journey that has given me a great deal of resilience. When I first entered barracks, I never expected to develop the level of love and commitment I now feel for this institution.
I am a mixed Black and Hispanic woman, with a mother from Panama and a father from New York, both of whom served in the United States military. Throughout my life, I have lived in multiple homes, rarely staying in one place for long. Traveling across the world taught me at a young age how easily people can enter your life and leave just as quickly.

This school is unlike any other. To those on the outside, it may appear purely traditional; however, VMI has continued to evolve. The shared unity, perseverance, and willingness to stand and struggle alongside the person next to us, our brother rats, are what we gain from this institution.

These experiences forge lifelong bonds, and they are what truly define VMI. We all abide by the same standards, we all wear the same uniform, and at the end of the day, we all stand beneath the American flag.

THE CLASS SYSTEM

Cadet Maximus Ankrah, Class President (Class of 2026)

I am the elected Class President of the Class of 2026. I am a second-generation college student, as my two parents emigrated from Ghana and served in the United States military. I entered VMI with discipline learned at home, and I leave it sharpened by experience.

I toured VMI as a high school senior and was attracted to the academic excellence of the professors and the brotherhood shown by fellow Cadets. I matriculated in August 2022. The thing about the Ratline is that it does not discriminate – no matter the race, sex, religion, or superficial traits, the Ratline breaks everyone down. The only things that you can rely on are those who put others first, those of high Honor, and those who want to get better every day.

My cadre said an important thing to me when I was a Rat: “All those who come to VMI have a clean slate. I had a phrase engraved on my ring: “You must justify the space you occupy.” That quote meant so much to me that I had it engraved on my class ring. It signified to me that this place is as equal as it comes.

I was later chosen by my classmates, without campaigning, to represent them. In a Corps where I am a racial minority, I was entrusted with leadership because trust here follows conduct. VMI is a place that strips everything away, leaving you with your character and drive. It exposes your flaws but empowers your resilience.

Cadet Matthew Assouad, Second Class President (Class of 2027)

I am the class president for the class of 2027. I am an Army veteran with tours of service in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror. Like many veterans, higher education was not accessible without the GI Bill. The Institute, the nation’s most senior military college and a bedrock for commissioning cadets into the armed forces, American business, and government, serves the nation by creating leaders shaped by Honor before self and selfless service. Highlighted in the Medal of Honor Recipients, a Civil Rights Saint, Rhodes Scholars, general officers, and corporate leaders whom the Institute has produced. To diminish or dismantle such a system is not merely an institutional decision; it is a statement about what kinds of leaders the Commonwealth believes are worth cultivating.

Cadet Caleb Chandler, Historian (Class of 2027)

The preservation of VMI as an institution of higher learning is imperative to ensuring that students from all races, religions, and backgrounds continue to receive the highest degree of academic rigor, leadership training, and physical development offered within the borders of Virginia. In my time at VMI, I completed the Ratline, competed in Division I athletics, studied abroad, balanced ROTC and multiple academic programs, and was entrusted by my peers with elected responsibility.

The bond that links every member of the community cannot be found elsewhere; the brother-rat spirit, uniquely etched into each class ring. Faculty and staff have dedicated their lives to the betterment of cadets. VMI is a one-of-a-kind institution that attracts service-oriented individuals who aspire to be trailblazers within all branches of the armed services and corporate America. At VMI, opportunity follows effort. Background recedes. Performance remains. The bonds formed here, among cadets, faculty, and alumni, are forged through shared hardship and shared accountability.

THE HONOR SYSTEM

Cadet Grant Rose, Honor Court President (Class of 2026)

The Honor System is not symbolic. It governs our daily lives. The VMI Honor System is the backbone of the VMI. We pride ourselves on the men and women of character that we produce. We are trusted not because we are college graduates; we are trusted because our Honor system instills morals that express our ability to take the hard right over the easy wrong.

Cadets take unproctored exams, leave personal property unsecured, and rely on one another’s word. Our Honor system is a simple system that generates men and women distinguished in society who possess a strong moral compass, built upon the Honor Code we have at VMI.

The Code, which states that a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do, is enforced by cadets elected by their peers. It is this lived practice of Honor, not rhetoric, that distinguishes VMI graduates long after they leave barracks.

Our system is simple and fair. The rules and regulations are laid out in a manner that all Cadets at VMI understand. From the moment you enter barracks to the moment you walk across the stage at graduation, you follow the Honor Code. Our system allows every graduate to know that the alumni who walked across the stage before them and the cadets who graduate after them have a cornerstone of Honor and integrity that are necessary and yearned for in society.

OUR REQUEST

To whom it may concern, we ask not for endorsement, but for presence.
Before irreversible decisions are made, we invite you to visit VMI to see the system as it operates:

• Sit in our classrooms
• Walk through our barracks
• Speak with cadets without scripts
• Ask difficult questions
• Judge our answers
• Hear from those who have chosen to remain.

CONCLUSION

VMI is not sustained by myth, nor by denial of its past. It is sustained by the daily labor of cadets who submit themselves to discipline to serve something beyond themselves. We do not claim perfection. We claim responsibility. If decisions about the future of the Institute are to be just, they must account for the voices of those being formed within it now. We ask only that you hear us.